4 ms·
> If you want to be a thinker, you have to write. > Start a blog! Posting to HN counts as writing, too.
by thunky 4y ago
> If you want to be a thinker, you have to write.
> Start a blog!
Posting to HN counts as writing, too.
- kragen 4y agoposting to hn has its disadvantages most of the interactions you get are people trying to prove you wrong this is great when it's with evidence, but half the time instead they accuse you of lying, argue from their own authority, or insult you the options for including equations, data tables, and diagrams are very limited, and these are important when what you're thinking about is objectively falsifiable propositions the options for structuring your writing into sections with titles with a table of contents, so readers can navigate an argument that takes more than two minutes to read, are similarly weak nobody reads what you write after a week, and it's hard for you to even find it yourself worst of all, if you discover that you were wrong two weeks or more after your initial comment, there's no way to append a correction
- rerdavies 4y ago... all of which seem like motivation for writing better. Keep on posting!
- kragen 4y agodoubt i will posting here makes my life worse
- akkartik 4y agoYou are already so prolific outside HN, have you considered collecting your HN comments in your own space? Once I started doing this I found HN comments would grow off HN. Now there are a few subjects where I can just point people at a link the next time a subject comes up. And the link has often grown out of repeated iterations of debate on HN and elsewhere. It doesn't bother me that people forget HN comments. I don't forget them, and that seems the important thing. You _are_ right that one needs to keep HN at arms length. Over the years I try not to engage in repeated back and forth. I'm not writing primarily for whoever I'm arguing with. I'm writing for the silent readers.
- kragen 4y agooh thanks i did edit some hn comments into dercuano, derctuo, and dernocua which comments of mine here do you think would be worth saving
- akkartik 4y agoAfter many years I recently have a way to follow people on HN once again (https://www.hnfollow.com https://www.hnfollow.com). Since I started following you, I've favorited a couple in particular: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33641298#33644090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33641298#33644090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33679360#33684545 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33679360#33684545 But I think there are others. Your view of your own darlings will be different from others. It might be worth downloading the archive in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33389843 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33389843, just because it's recent and so going to be up to date.
- kragen 4y agothank you!
- flobosg 4y agoI had no idea there were follow-ups to Dercuano. Good to know!